The Firm

The Tingewick firm consists of 27 Clinical Medical Students installed in the January of their 4th Year (2nd Year Graduate Entry) and work through the year organizing Tingewick events, fundraising and ultimately arranging the pantomime that is the culmination of Tingewick’s work throughout the year in November.

Meet the Firm

Tom Gardiner

Director

TW16's dashing hero, charismatic, energetic, and workaholic, Tom leads the troops of the Tingewick Firm and is our creative hub.
Like all good leaders, Tom is also the king of schmoozing, and is often found in the company of the senior members, scheming over champagne and caviar GPEC sandwiches.

Seb, our friendly neighbourhood treasurer, part time vegetarian and protector of poultry, is a hidden gem. Despite proclaiming himself the least talented member of Tingewick firm, his knowledge of the incredible powers of Huel and the most fashionable way to display a wall hanging are second to none.

Ellouise Bishop

Assistant Producer

Some say she can predict lyrics to unwritten Disney movie songs, and can sort her multiple to-do-lists into Dewey Decimal System order with just a simple disapproving glare. Legend has it that only the sight of a spider and consumption of a homeopathic dose of beer can negate her formidable organisational skills.

Audrey Davies

Assistant Director

Queen of efficiency, Audrey has us all marvelling at how much she can cram into a week and still be more on it than the rest of us. Her skill set is expansive and niche sports are her forte (not just tennis but REAL tennis). But if you ever need tips on the best technique to wash a floor, Audrey is the one to ask!

Alex Lindsay-Perez

Head Writer

Fresh from her stint in maximum security, future unelected House of Lords member Lady Lindsay-Perez is this year's head writer. You may know her from such Spanish classics as 'Shakira, Shakira' and 'Despacito' but Alex's "lips don't lie" when it comes to writing the Tingewick script.

Niall McPaul

Writer

Niall loves gap years so much he actually took two of them. Multiple weeks spent solely in the company of his own thoughts have honed his powerful intellect, leading to his revolutionary realization that MRI machines would be best utilized if we were just to, in his words, ‘give people a bunch of drugs and leave them in there for a while’.

Ben Jones

Writer

After once being told to f**k off by a tutor, Ben honed his comedic talent to a razor's edge thinking of a comeback. Some say he does a decent Jeremy Clarkson impression. Some say his mum still makes him his packed lunches. All we know is: he's got shit hair.

Movin Abeywickrema

Writer

Though he may be the sweetest, shortest, and dare I say cutest member of Tingewick firm, Movin is undoubtedly the dark horse of the writing team. Questionable jokes? Sexual euphemisms? They probably came from him.

Sophie Taylor

Head of Music

Sophie has many exorbitant arms. She clearly doesn't want to shave.

Danny Simpson

Music

The only thing Danny loves more than music is male grooming; it is a poorly kept secret that he spends two hours every morning washing, trimming and styling his beard to make sure he's looking suitably virile. Ladies - watch out!

Becky Lenihan

Music

Tingewick Firm 2017's very own Becky With The Good Hair: like a small child she can't even hack one Dr. Pepper before having to call it a night and go home ('the sugar rush is just too much'), but we'll forgive her because girl knows her way round a sax better than anyone and will bringing some serious musical prowess.

Louisa Scott

Vocals

Harmonious in every single way, singer extraordinaire, like a spoonful of sugar Louisa is going to make the voices of Tingewick sound oh so sweet.

Vishaal Ladva

Vocals

A brandy-swigging, pizza-making maverick, unparalleled in his skill at injuring himself playing football. Also, he sings occasionally.

Zuzie Bien

Choreography

Zuzie secured her choreo firm place with a stellar performance in 2016 as the best pair of windscreen wipers Tingewick's sex dance has ever seen. Expect big things.

Imogen Mechie

Choreography

Fresh from the West End, singing starlet Imogen has set her sights on the more lowly task of choreographing a pantomime in a run down hospital.

Chen Kailayapillai

Tech

Chen will undoubtedly excel in his role with his multitude of experience in theatre tech, which has made him a “pretty big deal in the Oxford lighting world” (self-proclaimed)! Chen offers lucky punters a £350 reward if one can pronounce his surname correctly first time."

Somil Desai

Tech

Somil is a tech wizard, who, rumour has it, was awarded first place in his year at Cambridge purely on the basis of his beautiful eyes. His weekend job operating machinery in a saw mill helped to secure him his tech position on TW firm.

Abi Tyer

Head of Design

As she rushes off to pottery class with a tray of home-made brownies, this incarnation of the Domestic Goddess is certainly the most wholesome person on Tingewick firm this year. And no, we still don’t know how she does it.

Rosie Barker

Design

Middle aged lady in 22 year old body - lover of organic veg, radio 4 and Ottolenghi.

Mana Rahimzadeh

Design

Alongside her role on the design team, Mana holds a number of important titles within Tingewick Firm, including 'most likely to give a delayed reply', 'most likely to miss a flight' and 'most difficult surname to pronounce' (Hannah Warren-Miell narrowly missing out on that one).

Hannah Warren-Miell

Design

Here we have the rare lesser spotted Hannah cat. She is normally found playing with other cats in her natural habitat, avoiding humans, winning gold blue peter badges and drinking Tesco's own white rum.

Darryl Braier-Lorimer

Publicity

The wild Darryl can often be seen strutting like he were on a catwalk. Gracefully strolling from place to place, scrutinising the Facebook profiles of all he meets, he becomes aggressive if he discovers you're not following the TW Instagram page. Follow it. Follow it now. Do it.

Erin Jones

Head of Production

Erin is Tingewick's Queen of the Jigsaw and creator of the Elephant in the room. With a passion for MDF, compost and motorised power tools, Erin spends most of her days wondering why her parents decided not to name her Erin.

Cameron Montgomery

Production

Lovable and can be incredibly emotionally sensitive, but would also probs shit on your carpet.

Iain Baines

Production

Whenever flamboyant Production diva Iain Baines has free time from his 3,652 manly man sporting commitments, featuring figure skating, cheerleading and tiddlywinks, he can be found preparing for all the heavy lifting with a gruellingly strict diet of beer and Hassan's kebabs (extra cheese, extra ketchup).

Jess Webster

Production

Jess stands out from the other teetotal vegan production boys with her beer-chugging, meat-loving, face-licking ways. As blondest member of TW firm we wondered how she would get on with the power tools…we wonder still. The one thing we do know is that she’s mainly in it for the gossip.

How the firm works

The Tingewick Firm is both the group of 5th year students who run the pantomime and raise money throughout the year and an academic firm who are placed together for rotations. The firm is led by ‘the Big Three’ (the producer, the director and the treasurer), who are each helped by their respective assistants.

The rest of the firm consists of choreographers, musicians (“musos”), vocal coaches, a marketing team, a design team, a team of writers, a stage, and a tech team. The ratio and make up of each firm varies slightly year on year but there are a fixed 27 places on the firm.

The Big Three are chosen by the Tingewick Society (all those who have performed in the Tingewick pantomime) on the final night of the pantomime. Candidates wishing to stand for the Big Three are proposed by a proposer and seconder and then hust for each position in front of their year group, the Tingewick Firm and some Senior Members and are chosen by vote on the night.

The rest of the firm apply for the various positions and are chosen by the Big Three before the Christmas break. Many members of the firm have multiple skills beside their official roles and so it is worth putting any relevant skills on ones application (possible aside from specific roles such as choreographer). Members of the firm need not have had a large role in the pantomime but previous experience in events or dance etc is always a bonus.

At the beginning of the year in January, the new firm designs a new logo and picks new charities to support during the year. The firm then raises money throughout the year from bops, the May events and TingeAid (held in September) and then runs the pantomime in November/December.